Simply Stated
by HollyFire
Summary: The Doctor said that the reason he chose this location was because of the scenery, but Sarah knew the real reason. She couldn't remember all that had happened on their last adventure, but she had a feeling it had been to close to call.


**_Simply Stated_**

**This is the first Doctor Who story I had ever written. It's my first 4th Doctor/Sarah Jane story and was also posted over on . The sequel to this story is called "Instinct".  
**

"How much further, Doctor?", Sarah Jane Smith asked exasperatedly. "It feels like we've been walking for hours!"

The Doctor had promised a nice little getaway this time, an excursion from the norm, which usually consisted of running for their lives while trying to save some planet. No, this was different, all right. This was not the relaxing excursion he had promised her at all.

"Not much farther, Sarah. Just a little ways more and we'll be able to see a spectacular view from the scenic overlook at the top of the mountain! Now, isn't that reward enough for walking along this beautiful nature trail for the past few hours, hmm? Ah, just take in that wonderfully crisp, cool autumn air! Does one's hearts good, wouldn't you agree?"

The Doctor's joyous mood was in fact contagious and Sarah could not really stay annoyed at him for dragging her on a nature hike, so she looked up at him and smiled, saying, "Yes I would."

The Doctor had decided to treat Sarah to this little nature hike for the day at the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia during the peak of the fall foliage. Sarah had to commend him for getting the season right. The leaves were the most vividly rich shades of red, orange and yellow that Sarah had seen in quite some time. The Doctor had claimed that the reason he chose this type of location was because of the beautiful scenery and crisp, cool mountain air, but Sarah knew the real reason.

Sarah had a feeling that their last adventure had been close, too close to call. Try as she might, she could not remember their entire time on the planet Rashúa. It was a dreadfully sandy and windy planet which had very little water and did not appear to hold much in the way for a comfortable life for the colonists there. The Doctor had explained to Sarah before they had landed there that the colonists on the most populated continent, also named after the planet, were organized into a caste system. Women were treated as second-class citizens who were forced to wear hoods and long robes covering their arms and legs fully. Sarah had wondered how the women stood wearing such warm looking clothing in such desert-like conditions. He surmised that their clothing, although looking very heavy and warm, was probably made out of light-weight material, possibly a type of silk. He had gone on to explain that this planet's culture most resembled that of Earth's Middle-Eastern cultures and belief systems.

He had gone on to say that the Tardis's wardrobe would have something similar to what the women wore on this planet. Sarah had looked as if she would debate the Doctor on this, but he had held up his hand and told her that for her own protection, she had to look inconspicuous.

Besides, they weren't going to be there for that long, possibly just a few hours, he had stated. They were going there on an invitation from an old friend of the Doctor's, a political scientist who in recent years was receiving more attention in the public's eye. This political scientist, who the Doctor called Tresdan, was attempting to get a grassroots effort going to overthrow Rashúa's dictatorship and turn it more towards a democracy. Tresdan already had a few hundred loyal college student and faculty supporters, but not nearly enough supporters from the lower echelons of the country's government.

The Doctor had a feeling that sometime within the following decade, things would start to get a bit dicey for Tresdan, seeing as how the dictatorship kept a semi-close eye on any suspicious activity from its populace. Though the Doctor swore he would not interfere in the natural progression of this society, he felt inclined to go see his old friend and offer some moral support and maybe an idea or two, just to help Tresdan on the right track toward progress and a better end or goal for this society than what that end currently was.

Suffice to say, as soon as the Doctor and Sarah had stepped foot outside the Tardis, they had been detained on site by two of the Dictator's soldiers. When the Doctor had demanded to know why they were being detained, the soldiers had replied that the Dictator had been expecting Tresdan's off-world friends to show up and that they were to be escorted to the Dictator's palace 'for their own protection'.

Sarah didn't recall a lot after that. She remembered both of them had been led to a holding room, which the soldiers had called, 'a guest room'. Sarah was amazed to see one queen-sized bed, ornate furnishings, and bathroom. This was definitely one of the nicer holding rooms they had ever been in. The Doctor too seemed surprised by the room.

Sarah was about to make a wry comment about the irony of a holding room looking this nice but then something very odd happened. The room started to spin, she heard a ringing in her ears, and her vision began to blur.

"Doctor…something's wrong…" and before she could get out another word, she passed out.

The next thing she remembered was the feeling of someone carrying her very gently. She knew instantly it was the Doctor, by the beats of his double hearts and that wonderful scent of his that was like a combination of cinnamon and just his natural scent. As she was in between that state of still dreaming and being fully awake, she realized that his hearts were beating furiously in his chest and she felt like they weren't the only ones around. Although everything around them was quiet, save for his breathing and heartsbeat, she sensed that they were being watched. She decided to keep her eyes shut for the time being since she didn't want to cause any undue trouble by opening her eyes and asking questions at the wrong time. Plus there was something in the manner of how fast the Doctor was walking and the fact he wasn't saying anything to anybody, which led Sarah to believe that something terrible had happened at some point.

Finally, after what seemed like an hour, the Doctor placed her gently on her feet, with her leaning heavily against him for support, as he used his key to unlock the Tardis. He then picked her up and walked inside, using his body to shut the door firmly behind them. He then sat her down gently on the chair and went to the Tardis controls to move them to drift in the vortex. It was then that Sarah was able to fully wake up, but she was not prepared for what she saw.

As the Doctor carried her to the medbay, (all the while giving a smile full of hope and saying that she was safe now) she noticed the state he was in. He wasn't wearing his coat. His scarf was wrapped loosely about his neck. His burgundy cravat and vest were gone and his white shirt's top three buttons were missing. His shirt, though, wasn't really white at all. It was soaked in blood. Sarah couldn't tell if it was his blood or somebody else's.

"Doctor…" she said in a hoarse voice, almost a whisper. Sarah was amazed at how her voice sounded.

"Shh, Sarah, it will be alright," was his soothing reply with a hint of shakiness in his voice. He lay her down on the med bed and gently pulled her hair away from her face. There was such kindness and concern for her that she saw in his eyes that she immediately became overwhelmed and started to softly cry.

"Doctor, what happened? Am I going to be okay? I still feel tired and off balance, a bit dizzy."

"I'll explain everything Sarah. But for now you just need to rest. I'll give you something for the dizziness."

When Sarah began to protest about the fact that he wasn't going to clue her in on all that had transpired, he put a finger gently to her lips and cupped her cheek, saying in a very gentle loving voice, "Trust me Sarah. Now, close your eyes and get some rest."

Sarah, pleasantly surprised by how intimately he had touched her lips and face, just nodded and smiled up gently at him as her eyes began to close. Her body and mind felt as if it had been through a terrible ordeal, but her mind refused to let her remember anything about it. Next thing she knew, she was sound asleep.

She remembered that following morning, she had woken up in her own bed only to find she had her nightgown on. How had she gone from the long sleeve shirt, khakis, and hooded robe she had worn on the planet's surface, to her nightgown? Then a thought came to her that surprised her yet again. The Doctor had undressed her and tucked her into bed. She wondered what he thought about how she looked, but then quickly put that idea out of her mind. He was probably in physician mode when he had undressed her. She at times forgot that he wasn't a typical human male. Theirs was such a close friendship that those differences didn't really get in the way, except in certain life and death situations where his moods could be the opposite of how humans would react.

Nevertheless, there was no point in going down that path of wondering what it would be like to be in an intimate relationship with the Doctor. She valued his friendship more than anything and would hate to jeopardize it. She feared that if something did happen and things didn't work out, then the friendship would be damaged. Best to leave things as they currently are.

Besides, she had no way of knowing if the Doctor had ever been in an intimate relationship before. Sure, she knew he loved her but it was a love like one would have for their best friend. And yes at times it did seem as if there was some mild flirting but it was just how their friendship was, a type of chemistry that just clicked perfectly. The more Sarah thought about it, the more she realized that this unique friendship of theirs was akin to the courtly love between knights and princesses that were described by authors who wrote about Earth's middle ages. She remembered reading about this kind of love in a very interesting literature class at the university. Her professor had said that since a knight and princess were not allowed to marry in that society, they had to transcend the usual intimate relationship and what developed out of that was a love so strong and powerful that it endured for the rest of their lives. Of course, who really knew if courtly love existed back then or if it was a nice made up fantasy. In any case, Sarah chose to believe that it could exist and she was determined to keep her love for the Doctor as courtly love and never act on it. That way she'd have the best of both worlds. She'd have a man who loves her and who she loves and the friendship would remain intact.

So with that all settled in her mind, she sat up in bed and looked at her clock on her nightstand. Right then, she realized she wasn't alone in her room. The Doctor was sound asleep in the recliner in the corner. He had a fresh white shirt on, with the top button undone. His burgundy cravat was loose and he had no vest on. He had dark brown trousers on and dark brown socks, but no shoes. He had a look of peace upon his face as he slept, and Sarah couldn't help but think how handsome he looked. He was her knight in shining armor, the man who would do anything in his power to protect her and keep her safe. He was truly her best friend.

As Sarah was smiling affectionately at him, she realized that this whole courtly love idea may be a bit tougher to adhere to than she previously thought. Since the clock read 6 a.m., she decided to get a bit more sleep in. She turned on her side, facing her best friend, and closed her eyes.

It was at that exact moment when Sarah closed her eyes that a pair of strikingly blue eyes opened.

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
**

Sarah had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't realized she and the Doctor had arrived at the scenic overlook of the nature trail. As they wandered toward the railing to look out over the mountains, Sarah was in awe at the vibrant hues of the leaves. The Doctor himself was shockingly quiet, just taking in the scenery. Sarah took a deep breath of the cool autumn air, closing her eyes briefly, reveling in the serenity that she felt from this place. She glanced over at the Doctor and found him gazing at her with a smile on his face and in his eyes.

But there was something else there in his eyes, Sarah saw for just an instant. It was something she had not noticed before, but something she couldn't really name. It was as if he was memorizing her face but in those few seconds when their eyes met, it also seemed as if he was looking into her very soul, memorizing everything that made her uniquely her. The intensity of his gaze for those few seconds left her speechless and a bit breathless, with her cheeks starting to flush. But then the moment had passed and the Doctor turned away.

Sarah decided to ask that question she had first asked when they had gotten back to the Tardis after their time on Rashúa. "Doctor, what happened to me on that planet? I don't recall anything after I passed out."

The Doctor looked down momentarily as if to gather his thoughts and then gazed out at the mountains saying, "I should never have taken you to that planet, to that country. I had grossly miscalculated how much time Tresdan had left before the dictatorship would get involved in his life. I had assumed that based on previous dictatorships, the government would simply use the same methods of curtailing the civil liberties of their people that had been used before. But the newly appointed Dictator decided to make some drastic changes to the way things were done. I found out later from one of Tresdan's students that Tresdan was killed just two hours before we had arrived."

"That's terrible! I'm so sorry about your friend", Sarah sincerely said with a slight shakiness to her voice.

The Doctor just nodded solemnly and went on with the story. "The Dictator had ordered that any and all means of torture were to be used on Tresdan to acquire as much information on Tresdan's grass roots efforts to overthrow the government. Eventually they were able to find out about our arrival, which is why they had 'escorted' us to the 'guest room'. After you had passed out, I placed you on the bed and noticed that your pulse was way too fast and you had a fever. Some type of odorless toxin was sprayed into the room, but it had no effect on my physiology. I yelled for the guards, told them of your condition and demanded they bring the antidote to me immediately. They were quite surprised at how strongly you had acted to the toxin and brought in the antidote, apologizing and saying that the Dictator had left orders that we not be harmed. The guards had been ordered to administer a sleeping agent into the room, but had obviously not taken into account your physiology or mine."

Sarah said, "Well that explains the whole passing out thing and feeling dizzy thing but I had noticed when we got back into the Tardis that you were not looking your usual self to say the least. What happened to you?"

"Oh, the usual that seems to happen whenever dealing with evil dictators who think they can break the will of and outwit a Timelord. Let's just say I managed to coax this Dictator to see reason. That of course led to Tresdan's followers being able to lead the rebellion they've been working towards and to overthrow the government successfully, leaving behind people within the dictatorship who secretly agreed with Tresdan. Come to find out there were more of them than Tresdan ever thought there was. As far as overthrowing dictatorships go, this one went quite smoothly, considering."

"Considering what Doctor?"

"Considering that that fool of a Dictator thought he could win in a sword fight against me and it was all for something of mine that he could never have."

"What of yours did he feel he had to fight you for?", Sarah asked.

The Doctor finally looked at Sarah and said one word to Sarah, a word that held in it so much powerful emotion, the likes of which she had not heard from him before.

The word that the Doctor said was "You".

Sarah couldn't believe it. She said with a mix of surprise and awe, "Me?"

"Yes, you Sarah. You are worth fighting for, my Sarah Jane," the Doctor said with such tenderness and love.

"My knight in shining armor", Sarah said softly to herself. Since the Doctor was standing right in front of her and gazing into her eyes, he had heard that remark and laughed softly, pulling Sarah into a hug.

Sarah was about to ask about how she remembered his shirt being soaked in blood but she figured that he had to probably fight off quite a few guards along with the Dictator. For once the journalist persona in Sarah decided not to question how the Doctor had won. She was just content with that fact that he had won. He had done what was necessary to keep her safe and to help a society finally escape from the shroud of dictatorship that had suffocated them for far too long.

It was then that the Doctor and she noticed the sun setting off in the distance and what a sunset it was! They stood there, the Doctor with an arm around Sarah and her with an arm around his waist, just taking in the beautiful scenery before them.

"I guess we should start to head back to the Tardis before it gets too dark to see the trail", Sarah said grudgingly.

"Yes we should get back to the Tardis. But not to worry Sarah, our holiday hasn't come to an end yet. I seem to recall some caverns nearby in this part of the States. What do you say to visiting them?"

The Doctor had that contagious enthusiasm on his face again and Sarah couldn't help but grin up at him and said, "Sounds like fun."


End file.
